6 Leadership Lessons From Past Presidents

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Past leaders can teach us a great deal about how we can become leaders today. Biographies, memoirs and documentaries abound which underscore the achievements and abilities of the numerous outstanding leaders who came before us. The history of the United States in particular is filled with past presidents who are excellent examples of great leaders. Their various qualities and characteristics are often cited as the key to their leadership abilities, and these qualities are often emulated by others.

Anyone can learn to be a leader. After all, the often quoted phrase says “leaders are made, not born.” This is in part because leadership is not a single trait, but it is an over-arching skill set comprised of multiple abilities. As such, the lives of different leaders exemplify different elements of leadership. Elements of leadership include the ability to take criticism gracefully, to communicate well with those around them and to have a clearly stated goal or vision. These elements of leadership can be learned through studying the lives of past leaders who used these elements to alter or redirect the course of history. Here are six leadership lessons from past presidents which highlight a particular skill used during their time in office.

George Washington

George Washington’s name appears on almost every list of great leaders unless political figures are left off entirely. The reasoning is understandable. Washington led a rag-tag army against one of the most powerful military forces in the world. He then successfully steered our fledgling republic through its first fragile years. Washington stepped down from the presidency when the people wanted to make him a king and set a two-term precedent that needed no law to uphold it until Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for a third term. Folklore also likes to emphasize Washington’s honesty.

What is sometimes lost in the mythos of Washington is that he was there for all of the victories and struggles of his men. Washington froze with his men at Valley Forge. He stood beside them in battle, and he fled with them when they were defeated. Washington led from the front. Although he understandably could not be on the front lines of every battle, Washington did not shirk away from the discomforts that surrounded, and nearly overwhelmed, his men. One often overlooked leadership lesson to learn from Washington: If a leader is going to truly lead, they must be there working beside the people they claim to lead.

John Adams

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John Adams has the misfortune of being sandwiched between two of the most brilliant and memorable presidents in United States history. Adams stepped into Washington’s shoes when he took up the presidency, and those were shoes no man could have filled. Then, when Adams stepped down, the brilliant Renaissance man Thomas Jefferson took up the mantle of “Mr. President.” The leadership lesson Adams teaches, however, is one that too many would-be leaders forget.

Adams and Jefferson were vicious political rivals. When incumbent John Adams lost the presidential election to Jefferson in 1800, most of the world assumed that this was the end of the republic experiment in America. Europe believed that Adams would refuse to hand power over to his political arch-rival. Instead, Adams passed the mantle of the presidency to Thomas Jefferson peacefully. This transition of power would come to be known as the Revolution of 1800 and speaks to a leadership quality that no republic can survive without: A true leader does not let their ego control their actions. They will yield peacefully instead of fighting to keep power if their people feel someone else is a better leader.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson is known for more than just his time as president. He authored the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom, which later inspired the Bill of Rights. In addition to his political abilities and his extraordinary talent as a writer, Jefferson has been called “the last Renaissance man” due to his wide range of talents and abilities. In addition to statecraft and the written word, Jefferson mastered six languages, played the violin and assembled a 10,000 book library. This massive collection of books would later become the foundation for the Library of Congress. Thomas Jefferson was also a creative. He designed the architecture of his home, Monticello, and, when he founded the University of Virginia, used similar architectural designs for several of the buildings. In addition, Jefferson was known as a naturalist, inventor and archaeologist. Of the numerous leadership qualities that we could find in Jefferson, perhaps this is the most important: Be curious and creative. A leader must be able to both think outside the box and be able to ask “why?”

Abraham Lincoln

Like with Washington, no list of presidential leaders is complete without Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln presided over the most tumultuous time in American history. The nation that Washington, Jefferson and Adams had shepherded through its infancy was tearing itself apart. The South had seceded, brothers were fighting brothers and thousands of people were enslaved. American soil was soaked in American blood, and Lincoln had to try and weave the nation back together.

Most people are aware that Reconstruction was a disaster, and the South remained an economic backwater until World War II. “Freed” slaves largely became wage slaves, and hatred festered so deeply within the South that Vicksburg refused to celebrate the Fourth of July for more than 70 years. This was not what Lincoln wanted. Lincoln argued for reconciliation instead of retribution and repeatedly fought with his generals and Cabinet over what to do with a reunited America. A large number of people wanted to punish the Rebels, and sadly, history tells us that the desire for vengeance won the day.

Lincoln’s gentler actions for reuniting the country were discarded after his assassination, but the lighter measures he wished to impose on the South speak to a powerful leadership lesson: A leader should seek reconciliation, not revenge.

Harry S. Truman

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Truman took office toward the end of World War II after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Truman took his Oath of Office as the Allied forces closed in on both Berlin and Tokyo. Truman had no prior experience with foreign policy before he was thrust into the role of Commander in Chief and was expected to be one of the Allies’ leaders.

During his first six months as President of the United States, Truman saw the surrender of Germany and had to make one of the most infamous decisions in human history: how to force Japan to surrender. Truman had to decide between committing troops to a drawn out and bloody invasion against Japanese soldiers who were deeply entrenched and unwilling to surrender or using the newly developed atomic bomb. As is well known, Truman chose to commit to the world’s first nuclear strikes with the bombs falling on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Though Truman’s situation is far more extreme that most leaders will ever face, his dilemma over how to end World War II embodies a lesson all leaders should learn: A leader must be prepared to make the hard calls.

Ronald Reagan

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Ronald Reagan made history both at home and abroad during his time as president. His tax cuts helped the U.S. economy recover, and he appointed Sandra Day O’Conner to the Supreme Court, putting a woman on the bench in the highest court in the land for the first time in history. Reagan is perhaps best known, however, for his foreign policies. Reagan was president during the Cold War, and his foreign policies dealt extensively with undermining or defeating the Soviet Union. Reagan built up U.S. weapons and troops, provided aid to anti-communist movements across the globe and announced the Strategic Defense Initiative. The SDI, also called the Star Wars program, was a theoretical plan to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles while they were still high above the earth. The idea was mocked and is often described as a failure, but the SDI did play a role in ending the Cold War. The U.S.S.R. realized that such a program, if successful, would tip the delicate balance of the Cold War in America’s favor. The Soviet Union’s economic system, however, was unable to support the continuance of the Cold War arms race and they were forced to seek concessions. Later in history, the Israeli’s Iron Dome defense system would work in a similar fashion to shoot down nearly 90 percent of the missiles fired at the small nation.

In 1987, Reagan spoke at the Berlin Wall and challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Reagan reportedly argued with his advisers up until the night before the speech about using the now-famous line. His advisers pushed for him to leave the line out, saying it was antagonistic, but Reagan refused. Two years later, the Berlin Wall was finally dismantled, and Germany began the reunification process.

Reagan possessed many leadership qualities, but one lesson to learn from his determined and passionate defense of freedom during the Cold War is this: A leader must be prepared to stand up for what they believe in, regardless of its popularity.